For large volume users of consumable welding rods for electric arc welding equipment, such as industrial equipment fabricating shops, construction companies and welding service companies, the most economical way to purchase supplies of welding rods is by the sealed can. In this form, welding rods each about a foot and a half long and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter are packed several hundred to a can, bundled one deep in a plurality of rows and columns. The typical can is rounded corner rectangular in transverse cross-sectional shape, with rimmed flat ends. This typical can measures about a foot and a half tall and about six inches by about six inches in transverse cross section. The typical can is made of sheet steel with a protective coating of lacquer or the like; very approximately, it is the size and shape of a conventional two gallon gasoline can and may be made of the same kind and weight of metal sheet material.
As anyone who has ever tried to open a can of Spam luncheon meat or canned corned beef using a conventional rotary can opener has learned, it is next to impossible to neatly open a can of rounded corner rectangular transverse cross-sectional shape using such a device. And although the task of opening an especially tall can, e.g. one that is more than a foot tall is not a task that the average person is likely to have faced, it should be easy to imagine that the taller a can is, the more difficult it is to open using only conventional ways and means. For instance, if the tall can is set upright on a standard-height countertop or similar work surface, the upper end is disposed at so high a level that manipulation of a rotary type of opener about its periphery is awkward and not convenient.
Because so many cans contain a liquid or other fluid product which is likely to spill out if the can is not disposed in an upright condition as it is being opened, most peoples' experience with opening cans is confined to opening cans which are disposed in an upright condition. However, due to the tallness of cans of welding rods, and due to the fact that they are not very fluent, it is possible to open a can of welding rods while the can is lying on its side on the work surface, and some people who have the occasion to open such cans in the course of their work have gotten into the habit of lying the cans down in order to open them. A problem with using such a technique is getting the can to stay still while the lid is being cut open. Often it is a three- or four-handed task, which cannot be performed well by one person acting alone. Attempts to do so too often produce frustration, mangled cans and nasty cuts.
The present inventor is one who has had occasion to experience the conventional way that such cans are opened, to conclude that there must be a better way, and to come to believe he has found it.